Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other franchises that will likely be making an appearance at a later date in this story.

Author's Note: This story is a response to Wanda Ginny Greenleaf's "Lily Evans-Potter: World Traveler" Challenge. As such, this story will probably end up being a Mega Crossover when all's said and done.

Please Note: I am posting this chapter tonight to serve as a bit of a teaser chapter. The first official chapter of this story will be posted either Monday or Tuesday night when I do the, now normal, update of all my stories that have complete chapters that can be posted.

xXx Lily Evans-Potter's Multiversal Journey xXx
xXx Arc 0 - Prologue / Ch. 1 - Point of Departure xXx
xXx Very Early Morning xXx
xXx Sunday, November 1st, 1981 xXx

Lily Evans-Potter closed her eyes as the green light of the Killing Curse rushed towards her. She couldn't help but think, even in these last desperate seconds of her life, 'Will it be enough? Will the protections hold?'

You see, Lily was a very clever young woman, and very near to the exact moment that the words of that foreboding prophecy had left the mouth of Albus Dumbledore, Lily had known that even with the best defensive charm's protecting their home it was all but guaranteed that the Dark Lord Voldemort would still be able to find them.

Oh sure, Dumbledore had suggested that they employ the Fidelius Charm to protect their home. However the old man seemed to forget that Lily was an exceptional Charms Mistress. Thus she knew full well that even the Fidelius Charm was not without it's faults. For one thing, the Secret Keeper needs to be someone who does not call the residence to be protected his or her home, thus it is impossible to protect the Secret Keeper by hiding them under the same Fidelius that they are the Secret Keeper for.

Another fault with the Fidelius charm is that it only hides the knowledge of the secret. It doesn't, for example, prevent someone from knowing that they have had knowledge of a place they hold longstanding acquaintance with removed from their mind. So for instance, using the charm to hide a building like Buckingham Palace would play all sorts of havoc with people around the world because people would KNOW that something should be where Buckingham Palace is supposed to be, but there doesn't appear to be anything there.

That was why Lily had gone looking for other solutions to the problem of the Dark Lord. And to her shock and amazement, she had found a solution in a rather ancient and weather worn tome located in one of the more out of the way sections of the Potter Family Library.

Well… technically she had found two solutions. However the first of the two was kind of unreliable. The advantage of it was that it would almost guarantee that her entire family would live out the night. However the Ritual it required, well, Lily wasn't particularly interested in using that particular solution after reading the list of ingredients that she would need to power the ritual. Anything that used Unicorn Blood as one of its active ingredients just didn't bode well.

The second, and vastly more appealing solution, was a simple use of rather archaic Blood Magic. Yes, it meant that Lily would have to give up a pint of her life's blood to power the runes that would be laid out in various runic circles around the house and property, but once the runic circle was charged and activated… her death while protecting one of the occupants of the house would automatically fuse the magic of the Blood Runes to the one she was protecting, and should render them impervious to the magic of whoever had killed her.

It was a far safer and more reliable method of protection for Harry, even if it meant that Lily would likely never be able to watch as her son grew up.

As the light hit Lily, her last thoughts were 'I'm sorry Harry!'

xXx A Few Seconds After Lily was Killed xXx

Lily opened her eyes and blinked rapidly. She looked around and could see that she was in a massive underground cavern. Very close in front of her, she could see the banks of a truly massive river with odd lights flowing around inside of it.

On the edge of the river there stood a man in reddish-brown robes, holding a ferryman's pole, and indeed, he was standing next to a riverboat. However it was the tall statuesque black haired woman in a long formal gown standing next to him and glaring at the man while they argued over something that really took the spotlight in Lily's opinion.

Suddenly the Ferryman huffed saying "Fine, don't say I didn't warn ya when his majesty hears about this."

"Oh please Ronnie, like I would come all this way without his blessings on the matter. Now be a dear and go find someone else to pester," the woman stated humorously.

The man snorted and rowed his boat away.

The woman turned and bestowed a gracious smile upon Lily, "Ah! You must be Lily. I am Kate, and I have been wanting to meet you. You did a remarkable thing when you chose to sacrifice yourself in order to protect the life of your son."

"Please, can you tell me, will he be alright?" Lily asked.

"I am afraid that I am not really at liberty to give you knowledge about the world that you have just left. However, I am here to offer you something of an opportunity. You see, not many humans would have chosen the solution that you decided to employ to protect your son. Indeed, most humans would have chosen to continue living if presented with such a solution. As such, we have decided to grant you a boon," Kate explained to Lily.

"What sort of boon? and why can't I know about my son?" Lily asked in near hysterics.

"I am afraid that in order to learn about the world you have just left, you would need to truly pass on, and that would defeat the purpose of the boon we have decided to bestow you with," Kate said gently.

"What? What do you mean?" Lily asked in confusion.

"I mean that we are granting you the chance to live another, or possibly even several other, lives, until such time that you decide you are truly ready to pass on to your final rest. You have impressed us Lily Evans-Potter, and that is not something which is easily done in this day and age. As such, I will be giving you this…" the woman walked up to Lily, and removed a ring from her finger.

The ring was stylized with a large opal as a face-setting and was made of actual platinum. On the Opal was a symbol that Lily could swear she had seen somewhere before but couldn't exactly place. The symbol was a large triangle, with a circle inside of it, and a vertical line bisecting the two. The woman handed it to Lily.

"This ring will allow you to safely navigate the Rivers of the Underworld without needing to fear the lost souls that dwell within those rivers, as well as without needing the assistance of one of the Ferrymen to travel along the rivers. Using the ring you will be able to make your way to any universe in the Multiverse. I warn you however that your destination may end up being somewhat random, but you will always end up on a habitable planet and in a location that speaks a language that you yourself speak," Kate explained, "When you wish to leave a world you currently occupy, simply submerge the ring in any body of water and speak the word 'Metafora.' Oh! and you can bring people who are in direct contact with you, or someone you are touching, with you when you leave a world. So long as they maintain contact with you, they need not fear the lost souls."

Lily nodded her head in understanding before she asked "Will… will I ever see my Harry again? I mean I can understand that I won't see James again until I chose to pass on, but what about Harry?"

Kate sighed before pulling Lily into a tight embrace, "Fear not. While you cannot return to the world that you have left, you will be able to meet other incarnations of your son. Some of whom are in desperate need of someone who can truly love them for who they really are, instead of objectifying them in some manner. I will also say that should you ever desire rest, but not wish to… GAH!"

Lily looked up at the other woman, who she figured was probably a goddess or something, in concern and asked "Are you alright?"

The woman had a pained expression on her face as she ground out "When I finally get my hands on that Tom Marvolo Riddle, he will wish he had never heard of a Horcrux. To think he would defile my artefacte in such an abominable manner as that."

The woman released Lily from the embrace and hurriedly said "I am sorry to abruptly cut this meeting short, but I really need to go yell at Hades for letting mortals play with that particular type of magic," and with that Kate vanished into thin air.

Lily stood there for several minutes not truly believing what had just happened. Eventually she shrugged to herself and lifted her hand to look at the ring that Kate had handed to her. It was truly a beautiful object, but she couldn't help the feeling that she had seen that symbol somewhere before.

Shrugging to herself Lily placed the ring on the third finger of her right hand. She sadly noted that the Potter Wedding and Engagement Rings did not make the journey to wherever this was with her.

Walking up to the edge of the river, Lily took a deep breath and waded into the river. As soon as she was in it, she began swimming in the river. The water was unusually cold, but not painfully so. She could also see the lost souls for what they were, and considered how sad and forlorn they looked. However the souls did not seem inclined to bother her on her journey to wherever she was going.

The current in the river was surprisingly not all that strong from what Lily could tell. However she could see that the current was relatively swift, and that if it were not for the ring that she was wearing, that she would probably be swift to join the lost souls within the river.

Eventually Lily made it to another shore, and as she left the river the ring on her hand glowed in a brilliant white light as she seemingly passed into unconsciousness.